TEXAS NATURE OBSERVATIONS AND REMINISCENCES. 129 



huge oak trees in the neighbor- 

 hood, and some of them nearly 

 twice as thick near the base parts 

 at the one described, around that 

 romantic river forest bottom; and 

 one among them also showed quite 

 a freak in plantlife. It was a very 

 old and high oak tree, and near its 

 upper crown part one large and 

 broad limb showed at Its base 

 part a slight excavation, in which 

 a number of the broadleafed op- 

 untia cactus plants were conspicu- 

 ously implanted — some forty feet 

 above the ground, and also wit- 

 nessed by my companions, C. 

 Schulze and A. Haubold; and the 

 same tree also showed a nice grow- 

 ing green prairie flower plant in 

 the upper part of its broad stem. 

 UndoiTbtedly birds or some animal 

 feeding on the ripe cactus fruit, 

 or may be by the wind current, 

 the seed was transplanted high up 

 on such, as well as other trees, 

 where, under favorable conditions 

 they grow up into mature plants. I 

 recollect twice before having seen 

 during outings several groups of 

 the large cactus in full bloom; 

 once on a huge oak tree, and at 

 another occasion along the river 

 bank, on a large pecan tree; and 

 it was a very fascinating sight 



to see the golden yellow blossoms 

 of the cactus some thirty to fifty 

 feet above the base of the trees. 



The previously mentioned nat- 

 ural oak forest at the Salado river 

 bend, I understand is now the 

 property of Messrs. Lamm and 

 Schuwirth, and it vividly reminds 

 of the Landa park along the Co- 

 mal, the San Pedro Springs park 

 of olden days, and numerous other 

 forest parks of Western Texas. A 

 fine main driveway along pictur- 

 esque forest sceneries leads to the 

 main large open park, and we met 

 several automobiles with families 

 enjoying immensely the gorgeous 

 display of natures forest sceneries; 

 and some of the original photo- 

 views herein present a faint idea of 

 the grandeur of that ancient forest 

 with its century old oak, pecan, 

 and other forest trees. Besides 

 the interesting ingrown hackberry 

 and oak tree described, one of the 

 phot<i shows a friend and relative 

 admiring the grand forest display 

 of giant trees etc., (a "pull the 

 string" photo of the author, the 

 string' passing under my right 

 shoe) ; and the other photo shows 

 a nice river v>raterfall scenery, 

 close by the previous scenery of 

 the huge bendover oak monarch 

 of that beautiful forest. 



A Wild Goose Hunt at Mitchell's Lake 



In those days v/hen the tule 

 jungles were man high and cov- 

 ered the three miles long lake from 

 one end to the other, and the old 

 lake was covered with shallow 

 water, so that one could wade 

 with his long boots nearly any part 

 of the interior tule spaces; and 

 when no houses, or cultivated land, 

 boathouses and modern firearms 

 disturbed the equilibrium of the 

 earstwhile Indian "Lugana de los 

 patos"; in those days the Mitchell 

 lake hunting ground was an im- 



mense gathering place for all sorts 

 of wild animals of the jungles, 

 including myriads of wilds ducks, 

 cranes, geese, the wild turkey deer, 

 the wild hog, squirrels, the jack- 

 end king snipe ; and, in olden 

 times, occasionally the haunts of 

 the wild migratory pigeon, and of 

 the scarlet red flamingo, and the 

 snow-white' pelican, the ibis and 

 the wild swan. The latter, except 

 the wild pigeons, as well as geese, 

 were generally shot with the rifle 

 bullet, or buckshot — and the old 



